BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- Flights to Philadelphia, Albany, Washington D.C., and Boston are on the table as three airlines vie for the Essential Air Service contract at Massena International Airport.

According to Town Supervisor Sue Bellor, those three airlines include Boutique Air, Contour Airlines and Cape Air.

Boutique currently serves the airport with 21-round trip flights to Boston each week, however the airline's current EAS contract expires March 31.

In an email to Bellor earlier this week, United States Department of Transportation official Michael Martin said the three airlines had officially submitted their bids following a November 20, 2024 request for proposals.

Those proposals can be viewed online at regulations.gov under Massena’s docket number, DOT-OST-2012-0163.

Martin made note that "some proposals may require certain waivers from basic EAS requirements to be selected."

He also said that Contour's proposal would be operated as a public charter and, if selected, would need to be administered through the Alternative Essential Air Service Program.

In such cases, payment for the air carrier would be sent through the DOT to the municipality who then remits the payment to the air carrier.

Under the Essential Air Service (EAS) Program provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, subsidies are sent directly to the contracted airline from the DOT.

With the proposals in, it's now up to the community to review them and weigh in, with final comments due by Friday, January 24, 2025.

Once complete, the DOT will consider the comments by the town board and community before making a final decision.

The effective start date for the contract will be April 1, 2025.

Boutique Air proposal

Under Boutique's proposal, the airline will use Pilatus PC-12 aircraft with 8 or 9 passenger seat configurations. The aircraft have leather seats, pressurized cabins, power outlets, an enclosed lavatory and refreshments on each flight.

The proposal call for a two, three or four year contract duration, with a 5% subsidy increase in year two and 3% increases in years three and four.

Boutique would continue its current service from Massena to Boston Logan International Airport 21 times per week, according to the proposal.

Boutique boasts a 98% controllable flight completion rate overall, with a 99.82% controllable completion rate over nearly 5,000 scheduled flights in the last 12 months, according to the proposal.

Boutique officials say they will spend at least $50,000 per year in each market, if selected, for marketing and advertising to ensure the air service is successful in the community.

The airline has also worked to develop "effective marketing distribution channels with a reservation system that connects to all primary Global Distribution Systems (GDSs), allowing travel agents access to our flight inventory."

Boutique can also be found on major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), including Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, and Orbitz.

Officials say they also have an interline agreement with American Airlines as of August. 7, 2019 which allows passengers to book flights through United.com and AA.com to connect will any United or American flight.

Subsidy rates would be $5,756,644 in year one, $6,044,477 in year two, $6,225,811 in year three and $6,412,585 in year four.

Cape Air proposal

Cape Air has proposed using Tecnam Traveller aircraft, which are twin engine craft that have potential seating for nine passengers.

The aircraft have Italian leather seats, air conditioning, LED lighting and USB ports, officials say.

Cape Air officials say the aircraft were purpose-built by Cape Air with Tecnam, the first new purpose-designed computer aircraft in 40 years.

Cape Air officials say the airline had a controllable completion rate of 99.3% in 2024, a figure that was relatively steady throughout the entire year, according to the proposal.

Online and major travel agencies where flights can be booked include Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, Kayak, Travelocity, CheapTickets and American Express Global Business Travel.

Frequent flyer benefits are also available with Alaska, United, JetBlue, Delta and American Airlines, officials said.

Connecting flights with the aforementioned airlines is also available through their websites as well, Cape Air officials said.

While Boutique would offer 21 flights weekly to Boston, Cape Air offered three options:

• 21 weekly non-stop round trip flights to Boston Logan
• "Growth option" of 21 flights to Boston, seven additional non-stop round trip flights to Albany
• "Blended option" of 14 weekly flights to Boston and seven weekly round trips to Boston via Albany

Officials say they intend to spend $75,000 annual marketing the Massena service through traditional mediums like print, radio, television and streaming, along with local advertising, targeted SEM and SEO, digital display ads, Chamber of Commerce memberships and sponsorships, influencer marketing and local contests and trip giveaways.

Subsidy rates for the Boston proposal would be $5,615,014 in year one and $5,923,840 in year two. Under a four-year contract the rates would be $5,544,826 in year one, $5,849,792 in year two, $6,171,530 in year three and $6,510,965 in year four.

Cape Air officials noted in their proposal that the preferred plan would be under a four year contract.

Under option B, which would include 21 flights to Boston and seven to Albany, those rates would be much higher.

Under a two-year deal, the first year subsidy would be $6,229,784 and $6,572,422 under year two.

With a four-year contract the rates would be $6,151,911 year one, $6,490,267 year two, $6,847,231 year three and $7,223,829 year four.

Under the "escalation" option B, which features 14 weekly flights to Boston and seven weekly flights to Albany, year one subsidies would be $5,146,259 and year two would be $5,429,303.

Under a four-year plan the first year would be $5,081,931, year two would be $5,361,437, year three would be $5,656,316 and year four would be $5,967,413.

Contour Airlines proposal

After losing out on a contract with the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority to continue flights from the airport, Contour Airlines is now pivoting to Massena.

Their proposal would see the company invest "at least $25,000 in marking in various forms" including social media, print, radio, billboards and sponsorships.

The airline said they would offer larger "regional aircraft" that would allow them to fly up to 30 passengers at a time on their "ideally timed" schedule that would benefit tourists and business passengers alike.

Contour officials said with the regional aircraft in service their controllable completion rate on flights was 96% in 2023.

Multiple interline agreements would also allow passengers to link up their flights with American Airlines, United and Alaska Airlines.

Contour officials say they struck an interline partnership with Alaska Airlines in April 2024 and United Airlines in Dec. 2024.

Officials other added benefits would include a complimentary checked bag and rates as low as $39 each way on discounted flights.

The proposal calls for two potential options:

• 12 weekly round-trip flights to Philadelphia International Airport
• 12 weekly round-trip flights to Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC

The subsidy would come in at $6,531,324.75 in the first year, with a 4% escalation rate for each of the remaining three years of the four-year deal.